


The Lahar

by Callaeidae3



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [14]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bad Things Happen Bingo, Buried Alive, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Head Injury, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) Whump, Lahar - Freeform, Missions Gone Wrong, Volcanoes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2020-03-13 16:16:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18944470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Callaeidae3/pseuds/Callaeidae3
Summary: BTHB: Buried AlivePost-S2E1/E2, the Lions' quintessence are unbalanced, an afteraffect of the corrupted wormholes that flung the paladins across the universe. Lance and Keith are sent on a mission to retrieve a mineral from a volcanic planet that is said to help rebalance quintessence. Monitoring the seismic activity of the area proves difficult, and the warning comes too late for them to avoid getting caught in it.





	The Lahar

**Author's Note:**

> Requested by @glow--squid
> 
> (I thought I'd try a different approach to the 'buried alive' prompt. I hope you like it!)

“I’m not sure how I feel about this,” Lance remarks. “Why me?”

Keith narrows his eyes, veering around a steaming sulphur vent. “Look, I get that you hate me so much. You don’t need to remind me.”

For a moment, Lance is genuinely confused. He blinks and the confusion suddenly gives way to mild frustration. “What? No – Keith, I mean why me? As in, I’m the Blue Paladin. My Lion’s element is water. This is clearly a volcano, and not an offshore one either. There’s not even a crater lake. It’s just…rock. See what I mean? Why send me along on this trip? Hunk would’ve been better.”

“Hunk’s sick. Besides, you heard Shiro. The Blue Lion can give us a sonic map, monitor any seismic activity going on that the Castle doesn’t pick up on.”

“So why am I following you around on foot when I could be back in my Lion doing the monitoring there?”

Keith slaps a hand to his head then drops it, fingers curling into a fist.

“You just went to hit your head and forgot you had a helmet on, right?” Lance smirks.

With an exasperated sigh, Keith skids to a halt halfway down the slope and whirls around. “Can you please quit talking so much and _focus_?”

Lance throws his hands up in the air. “There’s nothing to focus on! Why do you think I’m complaining?”

“You’re supposed to be monitoring the seismic activity, _like I just said_.”

“Pretty sure you also just said that the Castle’s monitoring it.”

“They are, but do you not remember Coran being worried that the transmission might come too late? Something about the gravitational field being…urgh, I don’t know. The point is I need you here on foot with me so that if an eruption’s about to happen, we can hightail it to safety before highly toxic lava starts spilling down the volcano side. If you were in your Lion, I might not get your warning in time to move out.” Keith takes a deep breath and inclines his head. “Got it?”

Lance nods slowly. “Yeah…okay, yeah, I think I kinda get it now.”

“Good. Now let’s keep moving.”

They carry on towards their destination point, a narrow cleft in the foothills of the volcanic chain of mountains. According to Allura and Coran, the cleft should still be accessible since eruptions in the area are rare, but since that data is well and truly outdated, they’re not making any assumptions.

The most Lance caught of the plan was that he was allocated as the person to accompany Keith on a mission to retrieve a mineral from an uninhabited planet. He’d zoned out when Coran started explaining the scientific reasons they need the mineral. The short story is that – for reasons too complex for anyone but the Alteans and Pidge to really understand – the Lions require this certain type of mineral in order to help stabilise their quintessence after their getting thrown about the universe in corrupted wormholes.

It’s a long trek in from their Lions, though. When Keith and Lance landed, they’d had to park the Lions far enough away from the magma chambers in case of an eruption. The main concern is Blue being affected by this environment, what with the magma being so highly toxic and the gravitational field somehow being warped by it – Lance struggles to get his head around the science of it, but he knows that the gist of it is that Blue’s system would be affected by all that the most out of all the Lions.

And, though Lance would like to argue otherwise, it’s the reason why Blue is so valuable on this mission – it’s because of that sensitivity to this environment that Blue and Lance were sent down to aid Keith in this mission.

_“You’re Keith’s life insurance!”_ Coran had joked. A part of Lance wonders exactly how much he was joking when he said that.

“I think we’re getting close.”

Lance blinks himself back out of his daydreaming to see Keith stopped a couple of paces ahead of him. “You can sense it already? I thought we still had another hour of hiking yet.”

Similar to Blue’s sensitivity, Red apparently has a honed sensitivity in volcanic environments. Since she and Keith now share a link, Allura had speculated that Keith should be able to sense the differences in the volcanic rocks and minerals in the same way Red is able to. If Hunk weren’t still feeling nauseous from the Baku Garden’s mind control, no doubt he’d be down here with them to give Keith and Red an extra hand.

“It’s like a powerful surge of quintessence…” Keith murmurs, frowning into the distance. “It’s that kinda feel.” When Lance doesn’t say anything, he turns, one eyebrow raised. “….tha-that’s what it should feel like, right?”

Lance shrugs. “Don’t look at me. You’re the Red Paladin here.”

Keith glances at the map on his gauntlet. “It says we still have a way to go, but…I don’t know, I’m feeling _something._ ”

“Well, if you’re feeling it then it must be around here then?”

“Unless something’s interfering with the energy signature the mineral gives off. The gravitational field could be warping it, like how sound waves get distorted in different mediums and environments.”

“Alright then. Guess we start looking?”

Keith screws up his face, mouth pulled in a tight line.

“You okay?”

“I…”

Lance’s gauntlet beeps, a shrill noise.

“…I dunno.”

The beeping doesn’t stop. Lance frowns at it, squinting at the bright red Altean writing blinking at him over the blue. It doesn’t take much to figure out that the beeping and the writing is a clear warning.

Lance swallows. “Uhh, Keith…? I think – “

Keith abruptly yanks off his helmet, doubles over and dry heaves. His face is flushed and pale, and it’s only a few seconds later when he loses his balance and stumbles sideways a couple of steps before toppling over onto the rocks.

The beeping on Lance’s gauntlet increases in frequency and pitch, Lance’s heartbeat accelerating with it. “Keith, we gotta get out of here! That’s not the mineral you’re sensing!”

There’s no time to flee. The ground starts rumbling, causing Lance to have to stagger his way over to where Keith’s struggling to regain his footing. The rumbling becomes a roar, rocks skittering past them down the slope, the air itself looking like it’s being shaken. Lance realises with horror that he’s seeing the warped gravitational field warping even further.

_It must be able to warp quintessence as well,_ Lance thinks. _That would explain why it helps stabilise the Lions’ quintessence…and also why Keith, if he’s sensitive to the area because of Red like Allura says, is getting sick from it._

When he reaches Keith, the rumbling increases in earnest. A vent high up on the left side of the volcano they’ve been crossing breaks open even further, the slope crumbling beneath it. A vibrant magenta-tinged orange follows the crumbling slope. It’s hard to stand, but staying here isn’t a good option should anything come hurtling their way. Lance hauls Keith to his feet, slings his arm over his shoulders and starts pulling him back the way they came.

Two things happen at once: the crater rim collapses right above them and Keith’s foot slides out from under him.

Keith cries out in alarm as he tries and fails to find purchase. Lance throws out an arm to try to grab him but misses. He tries skidding down the slope to catch up, but Keith’s descent only speeds up. Above them, the lahar is also speeding up, and both of them are in its path. There’s no lava with it, but the pyroclastic flow is dangerous on its own as it is.

There’s not enough time. It’s too fast. It angles its way towards Keith, as though sensing him too, and hurtles towards him in a tumble of rock and gas. Lance only has seconds to decide his own course of action.

There’s not enough time. He can’t get to Keith in time.

Blasting his jetpack, Lance leaps out of the way of the lahar just as Keith’s figure disappears in the surge of rock. The last Lance sees of him is his helmet further down the slope before it too is overcome.

Seventeen minutes pass before the ground stops shaking, thirty before the cloud trail begins to clear enough to see through. There’s no sign of red. Lance is both panic-stricken and relieved. If red means paladin armour, that’s great, but if red means blood…he’s not sure he can handle it.

It’s not just this planet’s weird gravitational field making him feel nauseous now.

Lance’s heart pounds. Adrenaline and seismic activity have him shaken him to the core. His hands won’t stop shaking. On his gauntlet map, Keith’s location registers down the slope, but Lance is too shaken to move and he can’t blame the seismic activity for it.

He weakly raises a hand to his helmet and taps the comms line. Static greets him. “C’mon guys, please pick up.”

He taps it again. Static.

“No, no, no…”

_Calm down, Lance. Keith’s probably not dead. If he was dead, Red would be going crazy by now. Is she going crazy? No, she’s not. It’s fine. You’re fine. Keith’s fine._

Keith’s not fine. Lance knows it in his gut.

On trembling legs, he picks his way down the slope towards where Keith’s location is registering on the map. He half expects another tremor to pick up and send the ground shaking all over again, but it doesn’t happen. The mountainside remains eerily silent.

When he gets to the location, about a hundred metres down the slope, Lance is filled with gut-churning dread. There’s nothing but rock piled on rock here.

_Stay calm. I’m not calm. How do I stay calm?!_

Lance takes a deep breath. He goes to call out Keith’s name but his throat constricts. He swallows hard and tries again.

“Keith! Keith, can you hear me? I can’t see you! Can you help me find you? Please?”

There’s no answer.

“Keith!”

Lance tries hard not to let the emotions get to him but its hard. Keith’s silent, the comms are silent, the mountain is silent – although the latter is a good thing. Blue’s not giving him anything, and the only thing Red is doing to help the situation is not freaking out with him.

_“You’re Keith’s life insurance!”_

“Coran’s right,” Lance chokes out. “I’m basically his life insurance.” He laughs, a disbelieving, high-pitched sound. “I gotta…I gotta get him out of here…”

He’s scared. He can’t lie to himself about that. He doesn’t know what state he’s going to find Keith in. He doesn’t know if he’s going to be able to get Keith out in time, back to the Lions in time, back to the Castle in time.

He doesn’t have the experience for this. Lance’s medical experience is first aid at best.

He doesn’t have the guts for this. Hunk would be struggling more, but Lance isn’t sure he’s going to be able to cope if Keith’s been badly injured and…and….

A feeble voice interrupts his growing fears. “Lance?”

Lance’s eyes widen. He scans the rocks for its source. “Keith? Keith, is that you?”

Weak, panicked breathing. “Lance, wh-where…where are you?”

“Here. I’m right here. I’m right here. I’ll get you out, just help me find where you are.”

“…n’t breathe.”

Lance follows Keith’s voice a little to the right and wraps his arms around the nearest rock. “Keep talking. I’m gonna get you out.”

“No….I c-can’t….can’t breathe, I…”

“You can. You have to keep breathing. As much as you can.” He hefts the rock up, twists at the torso and dumps it beside him. The rock begins a roll down the slope. “Just keep breathing Keith. You can do it. In and out.”

“I-I can’t, I’m stuck, I can’-…. _hg’!_ ”

A boulder shifts a few metres into the rockslide and something cracks.

Lance stares in horror. “Keith?”

It’s a scramble to that boulder. Lance wastes no time trying to shift everything out of the way. It’s impossible by hand, especially when time is critical and Keith’s no longer answering. The boulder is too big and heavy for Lance to shift on his own though, and the only way he can think of to get it out of the way without risking hurting Keith more by rolling it is to dig his way through the rock surrounding it.

_This is a job for Hunk, not me!_

But there’s not enough time for that. Removing enough rock to even see a glimpse of Keith takes several minutes too long. It’s not until Lance clears away enough to be able have a go at moving the boulder that he realises why.

The boulder fell on his torso. Judging from the noise the rock – no, _Keith’s body_ – made before, it not only broke Keith’s chest plate but also broke a rib and is now crushing his diaphragm.

Everything blurs. One moment he’s staring at Keith’s pale face and the blue tinge creeping into his lips, and the next he’s hauling the boulder off him in one last surge of adrenaline.

Lance frees Keith’s right leg from the vice two rocks have created for it and then crouches down at his side. He reaches out a hand, hardly noticing his torn and bloodied gloves, and presses two fingers to Keith’s neck.

There’s still a pulse. He taps Keith hard on the cheek. No response. He tries again, and again, and then at last Keith draws in a strained breath of air.

Lance lets out a breath. “Thank God…”

Gradually the colour starts returning to Keith’s face, although it still remains terribly pale and he doesn’t wake. Lance spends a couple of moments regaining his composure before checking him over for injuries.

The crushed chest plate and broken rib are among the worst. Lance’s fingers come away bloody when he gently searches Keith’s hair, confirmation of the apparent head injury. When he brushes the dark hair of Keith’s bangs to the side, sure enough, there’s a darkening bruise and sluggishly bleeding cut high on his forehead.

While those are the injuries of most concern, there’s also the scrapes, bruises and burns littering his body. A couple of exposed patches of skin Keith’s arm and torso are bright scathed red and inflamed. There’s also the matter of his right leg. It’s hard to tell with the armour still on, but Lance wouldn’t be surprised if it were found to be broken.

_Now there’s the question of how to get us back to the Lions….how to get Keith back to the Lions without making the situation worse…_

Fortunately, he doesn’t have to think for long. A shadow falls over him, growing bigger and bigger. A rumble sounds, and Lance is almost tricked into thinking another tremor is starting when a great hulk of red lands on the volcano slope behind them.

Lance twists and stares up at the Lion, wide-eyed. “Red….”

The Red Lion crouches, bends hers head until it’s level with the slope and opens her jaws. The ramp extends out onto the slope right at Keith’s feet.

Tears form in Lance’s eyes. “Red….!”

He manages to maintain his composure even as the tears keep coming. If Keith weren’t so injured and Lance’s arms were so sore from hauling and shifting rocks, he’d have a go at carrying him, but he’s tired and he’s not Shiro or Hunk or Allura. With a quick reassurance to Keith that he’s coming right back, Lance ducks into Red in search of a stretcher.

He finds one among the rack of emergency supplies outside Red’s cockpit. It has foldable legs and wheels bent beneath it, enabling the stretcher the function of a gurney as well. Lance leaves one of the sides folded up but unfolds the other, then races back outside to Keith.

Keith’s eyes are open when he gets there, but they’re glazed and unfocused. There’s bruises under his eyes that Lance had initially mistaken for sleep deprivation. He doesn’t blink when Lance waves a hand in front of his face and doesn’t react when Lance tells him that he’s about to move him. He does react, however, when Lance sets the stretcher down beside him and gets about shifting him onto it.

The sound sends a shudder down Lance’s spine. It’s a horrid mix between a wail and a groan. Lance apologises, wincing as each movement earns another cry of pain from his teammate. It’s slow going, Lance afraid of hurting Keith more and those sounds making him flinch internally every time to the point that he has to stop what he’s doing and reassure himself that he’s doing the best he can.

It doesn’t, however, make it any way easier.

After he finally has Keith on the stretcher and secured there with the medical restraints attached to the stretcher-half-turned-gurney, Lance moves around the end of it and lifts. The wheels at the other end guide them easily across the ramp and into Red.

No sooner has Lance set the stretcher – and Keith – down again when Red closes her jaws. She takes off almost immediately, leaving Lance no time to decide if he should move Keith further inside. He lets himself fall backwards with the sudden motion.

_Thanks, Red._

Lance lies as he is, watching the sky grow darker and more starry as they leave the planet. He catches a glimpse of Blue flying beside them and smiles. That smile quickly fades when he realises that they’re heading into the outer atmosphere with Keith without a helmet on.

A wave of reassurance ripples over him, warm and settling. _Safe._

Lance blinks. _Red?_

_Safe._

_Huh…._

Sure enough, as they clear the upper atmosphere, a shield of transparent red becomes visible around the Red Lion. Lance removes his own helmet to double check and finds he can breathe just fine.

“Seriously,” he murmurs. “I think you should have the title of Keith’s life insurance, Red.”

_“Lance, Keith! What’s up? You guys aren’t due back for another three hours.”_

With a startled jolt, Lance pushes himself upright and grabs his helmet. “Guys? Hello?”

_“Yes, hi,”_ comes Pidge’s stressed voice. _“We’ve been trying to get through to you ever since the Castle picked up the incoming seismic activity about an hour ago. Were you guys alright down there?”_

A groan from Keith answers her question.

“We got caught in a lahar,” Lance explains. “Well, _Keith_ got caught in a lahar. I… should’ve acted quicker. It was quick, but if I’d – ”

_“How badly is he hurt?”_

“Bad.”

_“How bad is – ”_

Shiro’s voice cuts in, strained. _“Be more specific. Do we need a cryopod?”_

Lance glances over at Keith. “Uh, yeah. I think he’d appreciate that.”

_“Lance, the specifics. We need to know what we’re dealing with.”_

“Right, sorry. Sorry. He’s got a head injury, at least one broken rib, maybe broken leg, but I’m not sure – it could just be strained. Uh…burns, bruises, cuts…that sort of thing too.”

_“You said you were caught in a lahar?”_

“Keith was, yeah.”

_“Okay, we’re going to have check for internal bleeding and possibly a punctured lung as well.”_ Shiro mutters something inaudible beneath his breath. _“What’s the head injury like? Is he conscious?”_

“He was earlier, but then a big rock fell on his chest and he was having trouble breathing, couldn’t get enough air in, lost consciousness again….oh, right, he woke up when I was moving him onto a stretcher but he didn’t seem all that awake, if that makes sense?”

_“Right….okay…I, uh….”_

_“Shiro, it’s okay. I’ll run down and tell Allura,”_ Pidge says.

_“Yeah, uh….thanks…”_

“ _Which Lion are you in, Lance?”_

“Red. Blue’s following us.”

“ _Okay, we’ll meet you in the Red Lion’s hanger.”_

“Wait…” Lance crawls across the floor, dragging the helmet with him. He peers out the gap in the side of Red’s jaws. “Hang on, we’re about to head in now. The stretcher Keith’s on, it has wheels. I can come to you.”

“ _Are you sure?”_

“Yeah. Might be faster that way.”

_“Okay. Come to the medbay then. Allura’s started getting the crypod ready but we’ll need to make sure we’ve got everything before we put him in.”_

“Okay. See you in a moment.”

_“Yep.”_

They set down as the comms fall silent again. The landing is so gentle it’s hard to believe it was made entirely by a half-sentient mechanical warship. Red crouches down again and lowers her head, waiting until Lance is ready with his hands on the handle of the stretcher again before opening the ramp.

Once down on the hangar floor, it’s a run to the medbay. Lance starts off at a jog, then picks up speed into a run, careful not to jostle Keith too much with his steps. But running while holding up Keith’s weight puts too much of a strain on his arms, so he has to stop to lower the other wheels of the stretcher and then finish setting it up as a gurney before he’s able to resume pace again.

When they get to medbay, Keith is lost in a flurry of activity. Allura and Coran dart between the cryopod and Pidge’s scanner, setting up and calibrating, readying and assessing. Shiro has the job of removing Keith’s armour once the scans are complete. Removing the chest plate takes the most time. It comes away after careful moving and some assistance of Shiro’s prosthetic hand to reveal a bleeding cut on Keith’s chest.

As soon as the armour is off, Allura and Shiro are moving the gurney over to the cryopod. The pod hisses open and the gurney hooks into it. Allura and Shiro ensure that Keith stays leaning back against the stretcher as the wheels retract and cryopod takes care of hoisting it up at one end. A sort of fog of energy shrouds Keith’s body and Allura gives the signal to let go.

With one last hiss, the cryopod closes over and the ‘in healing’ sign pops up on the control panel.

Lance lets out a breath he hadn’t realised he’d been holding.

Red, it seems, does too.

 

* * *

 

Keith’s not due out of the pod for three days. As well as the injuries Lance catalogued, there’s internal bleeding to be added to the list just as Shiro suspected. The head injury also involved Keith’s skull being fractured.

Lance is still trying to process it all.

It becomes real when he returns to the site of the incident a couple of days later with Hunk. The images are too vivid – Keith feeling sick, the moment he slipped out of reach and the lahar came and swept him away before Lance could get to him. When he and Hunk reach it, Lance has to a moment to work through the emotions that threaten to choke him.

“I should’ve done more,” he mumbles.

Hunk pats him on the shoulder. “You got him back to us. Keith’s gonna be okay, yeah?”

“I could’ve saved him.”

“You did.”

“No, from everything. If I’d acted sooner, I could’ve…I dunno, flown in with my jetpack and pulled him out of the way before…before…”

Hunk hums. “Pretty sure any of us would’ve frozen up at the sight of this thing coming towards us. I certainly would’ve.”

“Keith wouldn’t’ve.”

They complete the mission that day, but it doesn’t feel complete, not with Keith still in the cryopod. Lance returns to the Castle feeling defeated. They obtained the mineral, but looking at it – a small, milky white stone that they only needed to acquire a handful of – Lance wonders if all the injuries Keith sustained on the first trip is really worth it.

He knows he should be there when Keith comes out of the pod tomorrow, but somehow he can’t bear the thought of it – the guilt of it.

Keith could’ve died in that lahar. If that had happened… Lance can’t bear to think about it.

 

* * *

 

Lance is there for Keith’s release. It’s a bittersweet moment for all of them, the cryopod hissing and releasing a newly healed Keith into their arms. More specifically, Shiro’s arms, but everyone else is soon to join in the hug.

“Uh, guys,” Keith says. “Um…”

“We’ll give you space in a moment, Keith,” Pidge mutters into his side. “Just let us hug you for a moment.”

Keith huffs. “Did I almost die or something?”

No one answers that, but that in itself is answer enough.

“Oh…sorry….”

Coran leaves the hug to run off to the store room. He comes back with tissues and stands a little off to the side of the group. From where Lance stands on the other side of the group, apart from the hug, he can see now how hard Shiro’s shoulders are trembling. Allura, Pidge and Hunk notice a moment later, quietly leaving the group hug.

Shiro holds Keith even tighter. He ducks his head to hide his face in Keith’s shoulder. A loud sob escapes him. It shoots right through Lance’s heart.

Keith wraps his arms around Shiro’s back, clutching his vest. “’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

A hand waving catches Lance’s attention. He meets eyes with Pidge, who jerks her head in Keith’s direction. _Come on._

Reluctantly, Lance steps in closer. He doesn’t want to disturb the hug though, so he leaves the hugging to Shiro and simply stands where is and clears his throat.

“I’m sorry I didn’t get you out of there in time,” Lance says softly.

Keith turns his head to look at Lance. “What do you mean?”

“The lahar.”

Confusion flashes across Keith’s face. “Lahar? What lahar?”

Shiro stiffens for a moment before apparently remembering that Keith probably won’t recall most of what happened due to his head injury.

“Do you remember anything of what happened?” Lance asks.

Keith’s brow creases. “There was an earthquake…no, seismic activity while we were walking in that volcanic area...”

“Yeah. Yeah, that’s right. Anything else?”

“I…um, I’m not…sure…?”

“It’s okay, Number Four!” Coran pipes up. “You, uh, sustained quite a number of injuries when that tremor caused a lahar, one of those injuries being a nice blow to the head! It’s not unusual if you’re experiencing a bit of memory loss in that area.”

Keith doesn’t look convinced, but doesn’t say anything to it.

Sniffing, Shiro eventually lets him go and hastily wipes eyes with his sleeve. Coran approaches him with the tissues, which Shiro silently accepts and makes use of. Keith watches Shiro a moment longer, concerned, then turns to Lance.

“I’m guessing you got us out of there,” he says. “I’m glad you weren’t hurt too.”

Lance stares at him, trying to decipher exactly what Keith’s tone of voice is meaning.

Keith frowns then at his lack of reply. “You weren’t hurt too, were you?”

“No, I wasn’t.”

Keith’s expression eases, giving way to relief and an ever increasingly visible exhaustion. “That’s good.”

“Again…I’m sorry I couldn’t – I’m sorry I didn’t – get to you sooner. If I’d – ” Lance cuts himself short when Keith stares at him blankly. “I thought you’d mad. Or like, disappointed.”

“Why would I be mad? If you’d tried to get to me, by the sounds of it you’d have ended up in a similar condition to me. You can’t mess with nature. I’ve gotten caught in enough sandstorms and whatnot to know that well. You not getting hurt like me meant that there was someone to get me out of there afterwards, right?”

“Well, yes, but – ”

“Yeah, so, so…” Keith frowns hard. He squeezes his eyes shut, opens them again. “Urgh, what was I saying?”

Lance sighs. He’s not going to win this argument of self-blame. “It’s okay, Coran was saying earlier that you might have some lingering affects from the injuries, in particular your head.”

“Oh,…s’ppose that makes sense…”

Shiro comes back to them, eyes red-rimmed and voice sounding thick. “Which means you need to be resting. I’ll help you to your room, get you changed out of that and then you’re on bedrest for at least the next day or two, okay?”

Keith opens his mouth to argue, but then looks down at himself at the tattered, bloody, scorched flight suit he’s wearing and reconsiders. Instead he nods tiredly. “Usually this is where I’d protest, but I really don’t think I have the energy for anything but sleep right now.”

“Good. Because that’s what you need to be doing.”

Lance pats Keith on the shoulder. “Glad you’re okay, man.”

Keith offers him a weary smile. “Thanks for savin’ me.”

“You’ve got Red to thank for that later, as well.”

The smile warms. “Ah, Red. She’s a good kitty.”

Without warning, Keith begins to list to the side. Shiro hooks an arm around his shoulders before he can topple over. Keith laughs at himself, mumbles something about sleep, and then lets Shiro lead him away to get some more rest.

Hunk gives Lance a reassuring hug. “See? He’s gonna be fine.”

Allura, Pidge and Coran join them in watching Keith stumble through the doorways, leaning heavily on Shiro like he’d be quite content to fall asleep on his feet right there and then.

When the doors close, Hunk clears his throat. “Alright, peoples. Lion quintessence rebalancing time, I guess, and then who’s in the mood for cookies?”

 

 


End file.
